Our 2014 theme was ‘Young people our future’

Following discussion through December and January, especially after the announcement of the Hon Justice Marcia Neave AO to head the Royal Commission into Family Violence, we will be focussing on’ Working Together’. ‘Working together’ has to be the foundation of any real attempt to address the epidemic of violence in our society: men and women together, the old and young together, agencies together, in a holistic approach to reduce the impact of violence. 

Some of the things we’ll be working on in 2015:

• Continuing our attention to child and family issues, progress for woman and girls especially in progress for the world – beginning with Pioneer Women’s Garden event: How well does the machinery for parental and career support including government programs based on Dr Vera Scantlebury Brown’s pioneering work, still function in a more diverse society.

• The 20th anniversary of the 4th World Conference of Women in Beijing in 1995 – the review process in New York in the Autumn and the actual 20th anniversary in our Spring (August/September) – this helps us link our concerns with wider media coverage on the anniversary. The question has to be which of the elements of the Beijing Platform for Action from 1995 still resonate today.